2021 is an important year for the crypto market. Not only is crypto a hot topic in the financial world, it’s a mainstay of popular culture today. These include notable events like the unexpected success of NFT, BTC and ETH setting new all-time highs, the ecosystem in Ethereum alternatives like Solana and Polkadot is growing exponentially, reputable companies are buying more crypto than ever before.

Now that there are just over 2 weeks left from the old year to the start of the new year, here are the 5 major trends we need to watch out for in 2022, according to year-end research by the CoinList trading platform.

Games are categories in great demand Preferably in 2022

In the current CoinList survey “Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2022” 4,444 participants were asked which project categories they would like to follow in the next year.

The most popular answer chosen was games (56.5%), which shows the belief that the games industry will lead the mass adoption of blockchain. DeFi (52.1%) and NFT (41.6%) are the second and third most popular categories, followed by Layer 1 / Layer 2 (31.4%), Infrastructure (28.3%), Social Token ( 22.8%) and governance (16.2%).

Types of projects with the highest demand for CoinList in 2022 | Source: CoinList

Play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity are slowly bringing crypto into the mainstream and gaining more access to DeFi and NFT. As the survey results show, the interface between DeFi and gaming will continue to grow in 2022, and game-oriented platforms like Flow, Immutable X will grow in importance. The game blockchain will enable a new generation of gamers to own in-game assets and trade in secondary markets. Hence, these living ecosystems are expected to see many improvements and be well received in the New Year.

Game and Metaverse were also voted among the top two use cases of NFT in 2022, not just the most popular use cases in 2021 which are avatars, event tickets, membership cards and crowdfunding (crowdfunding).

NFT top use cases in 2022 | Source: CoinList

Will NFT be built into non-blockchain-based games and platforms like Oculus and Instagram? Will decentralized, user-owned gaming platforms continue to grow? Time will tell, but with massive investments in games and metaverse from tech giants like Meta (Facebook), a bright future is possible.

Ethereum isn’t the only party worth attending

The Ethereum ecosystem is very special. No other platform directly drives as much innovation in the crypto space as Ethereum. But while the spike in demand we’ve seen this year is a very important plus for the industry, the summer’s NFT rush has broken Ethereum and rendered many retail users unusable due to high gas fees and scalability issues. which prompts them to look for alternatives.

No other Layer 1 project has grown so fast this year and put Ethereum at risk this year like Solana. This project is focused on speed and world-class performance (not to mention the fact that SOL has increased in price over 11,000% over the year and is listed on major exchanges).

2021 is also an important year for “mother of chains” Polkadot after the successful launch of Parachain auctions and many popular projects slated for 2022 (requires users to buy and lock DOT).

When survey participants were asked which blockchain they want to interact with other than Ethereum in 2022, more than 56% said Solana, followed by Binance Smart Chain (48.8%), Polkadot (47.9%), Avalanche (25%) , Polygon (25%), Cosmos (17.5%) and Terra (14.2%). In terms of which Layer 1 blockchain will be closest to Ethereum’s market cap by the end of 2022, the answers are similar.

Blockchains that users besides Ethereum will most want to interact with in 2022 | Source: CoinList

Bitcoin is still is the king

Bitcoin price is up over 172% in 2021 and with very favorable macro conditions like soaring inflation, it is hard to imagine that one world could no longer prefer BTC while the rest of the crypto market continued to grow. Although Bitcoin’s dominance rate has dropped from 70% to 39% this year, Ethereum is its only real competitor. However, with Ethereum facing stiff competition from other Layer 1 competitors, it is very unlikely that the leading smart contract blockchain will overtake Bitcoin in 2022.

Institutional investors are more comfortable than ever with the idea of ​​digital gold. With an increasing number of institutional vehicles available to investors, it can be said that institutions are officially entering the playing field. There are many individuals who openly own Bitcoin, including famous names like Tim Cook, Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, Stan Druckermiller, and Paul Tudor Jones. Some countries are even starting to accept BTC. In September, El Salvador officially declared Bitcoin legal money, meaning it can now be used for any transaction in the country, from buying coffee to paying taxes.

Will many other countries follow the El Salvador model in 2022? 87.3% of the survey participants said yes.

When asked about BTC price predictions for 2022 with a minimum of $ 100,000, 46.8% expect an increase between $ 100,000 and $ 150,000, while 10.9% claim it will surpass the $ 200,000 mark.

Another trend expected in 2022 is the accelerated flow of Bitcoin in DeFi. The supply at WBTC has more than doubled compared to the previous year. Many even hope to see tokenized versions of Bitcoin not just on Ethereum but on every major Layer 1 protocol while building a DeFi service.

Smart investors want to do more with Bitcoin than just HODL. And “doing more” means moving Bitcoin to Ethereum and other protocols where financial innovation thrives. Demand for WBTC is growing rapidly as bitcoin loan and lending rates become less competitive compared to the lucrative DeFi loan market. Therefore, there will be many new ways of transferring BTC to other blockchains via central or decentralized bridges such as tBTC. Other tokenized assets will emerge, but tokenized bitcoin will continue to dominate them all. So the king of cryptocurrencies has enormous growth potential in this market.

OLDToken Distribution Strategies thrive

With BTC, ETH and Layer 1 tokens skyrocketing in 2021, many crypto funds will be looking for locations to operate in 2022 and token issuance is one of the ideal plans. It is one of the most dynamic corners in the industry.

Smart crypto enthusiasts know that getting there early is critical to success and access to cutting edge assets before they are listed on an exchange. It’s like entering this space at the beginning.

With the traditional stock market being almost completely illiquid, slow and restrictive for most people, investors worldwide are drawn to liquidity, transparency and strong network effects. In just a few years of its existence, the industry has produced an ever-evolving set of interesting token distribution models that have caught the attention of investors. Just as the craze for ICOs waned, the market was gripped by the hustle and bustle of IEOs, token auctions, and agriculture.

Token issuance forms | Source: CoinList

As of 2017, almost every team has developed their own token issuance option. From token auctions like Solana, Celo, Flow, Mina and Casper to Polkadot crowdloan like Acala, Moonbeam, Astar … we’ve seen a lot of issuing and fundraising strategies this year. This trend is expected to continue through 2022. More importantly, we are seeing a significant increase in the quality and quantity of new protocols, applications and networks – an extremely optimistic sign for the burgeoning crypto industry.

In addition, activity and demand also increased in the seed phase, as private equity flowing into the crypto space outperformed traditional private equity in 1, 3 and 5 years. In 2021 alone, more than 40 startups are participating in the CoinList Seed program for early-stage crypto startups, such as Injective Protocol, Acala, Clover Finance, Rabbithole … Many of them continue to raise capital from the most advanced mutual funds like Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Multicoin, Platzhalter …

Decentralized software will overwhelmed Traditional software

The term “Web 3” appeared in 2021 to name the decentralized technology movement. The central thesis is that we are developing from an Internet that is built on “leased land” by monopoly masters to an Internet that is “owned by builders and users, operated by tokens”.

Decentralized software is gaining in importance and outperforming centralized software. We are seeing an explosion of startups developing decentralized versions of Web 2 platforms and services. These Web 3 ecosystems will be open source, without permission, and licensed. powered by Token Economy.

As decentralized software becomes more common than traditional vertical software such as search, social networks, e-commerce, software as a service, we will see thousands of new tokens and protocols of this type.

At the same time, more and more Web 2 companies are integrating the Web 3 architecture into their business models. In CoinList’s EOY survey, respondents were asked how they think Web 2 companies will integrate crypto and Web 3 by 2022.